Biometrics Institute

The Biometrics Institute is the independent and international membership organisation for biometrics. It was founded in July 2001 in Australia responding to an industry need for an impartial forum for sharing knowledge and information about biometrics. It expanded its outreach to New Zealand in 2004, to Singapore in 2011 and opened a subsidiary in London, UK, in July 2011 to create a global biometrics network.
It is predominately a user group representing government departments and private organisations who are using or looking at using biometrics, but suppliers also form part of the membership. The organisation has over 100 member organisations from around the world.
The association currently holds four Biometrics Institute conferences every year: the Biometrics Institute Asia-Pacific Conference in May in Sydney, the Biometrics Institute New Zealand Conference in March in Wellington and a Technology Exhibition in November in Canberra and in June in London every year. It runs regular networking meetings around Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the UK.
The Biometrics Institute has an office in Sydney, Australia and in London, UK.
History
The Biometrics Institute was founded in October 2001, This Code was approved by the Australian Privacy Commissioner in September 2006 in order to protect consumer personal data beyond the protections offered by the Australian Privacy Act. The Code was replaced by a Biometrics Institute Privacy Charter, now renamed to Privacy Guideline, in 2011.
This Guideline has been designed by the Biometrics Institute to provide a universal guide for suppliers, end users, managers, data controllers and purchasers of biometric systems. It is the public’s assurance that the biometric managers have followed best practice privacy principles when designing, implementing and managing biometric based projects. The Charter is intended to be a guide across many different countries and jurisdictions. It takes into account the legislative and administrative frameworks of different countries but recognises that biometrics and information technologies do connect beyond national boundaries and across different fields as diverse as health records, border controls, consumer based applications in the telecommunications industry, banking and drivers licenses.
The Biometrics Institute Privacy Guideline is based on the principle that citizens, when providing their biometric, have a right to expect that those who design, implement and manage that biometric understand its unique value and are committed to a Charter that ensures best privacy practice in biometric design, policy and management.
For example the Biometrics Institute addresses the responsible use of Biometrics in schools by encouraging organisations to consider any issues that may impact on a person's privacy before implementing biometrics and recommends Privacy Impact Assessments.
The Biometrics Vulnerability Assessment Methodology
Although there has been significant recent research into the vulnerability of various biometric systems to spoofing attacks, there is as yet no generally agreed method of assessing the degree of vulnerability in a principled fashion.
Since 2007, the Biometrics Institute has been working on this problem, partly co-funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. The goal is to develop a general methodology for vulnerability assessment applicable to any biometric system, and to apply it to a number of biometrics. A methodology has been developed and applied to a number of face, fingerprint and voice biometric systems.
In 2010, the Biometrics Institute established the Biometrics Institute Vulnerability Assessment Expert Group (BVAEG) to raise awareness about the importance of vulnerability assessments and that mitigation is available. This international group of government and research experts now regularly meets to discuss developments and activities.
Mission & Objectives
The Biometrics Institute promotes the responsible and ethical use of biometrics, including due consideration to privacy concerns, it is a forum for discussion about biometrics between members, potential users and vendors, it educates and informs members, business and the community about biometrics, it promotes the development and awareness of standards, benchmarks and test regimes for the industry and provides policy input to governments in partnership with members and key stakeholders biometrics.

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